Name 3 things you have trouble cooking?

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well I'll be barked at...I make a mean cream puff too:ROFLMAO: the rest of it is take your chances..I'm lousy at beef stew, soups, except my french onion and clam chowder...baking heck I'm the worlds best at hockey pucks:LOL::ROFLMAO: kadesma
Yeah, but you're the world's best "salad thinker-upper and maker!!!" (That is the official cooking term, isn't it?! LOL).

:)Barbara
 
To the best of my knowledge spatchcock chicken is NOT a baby chicken but the method in which it is cut i.e., backbone removed and layed out flat - you can certainly use a young chicken but that term denotes the way it is cut, not the age...at least around here. Just like our green onions are your shallots - it may just be a regional difference. A 5 - 6 lb. chicken is certainly not abnormal. And June's recipe is spot on!!!!

I am not questioning June's recipe.

Spatchcock IS a baby chicken. The cutting method or style has nothing to do with it...However, it is common for the spine to be removed from spatchcock...but removal of the spine does not make it a spatchcock.

From Wiki - A spatchcock is a baby chicken
Spatchcock - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

From another site - young chicken, no more than 6 weeks old.
Where Did The Word Spatchcock Come From?

And that is but only 2 online examples. Actually I don't agree with my second example. Maybe today with forced feeding and steroids etc, a spatchcock could be 6 weeks. But free range, I would say upto 3 months.

You might be correct though...It might be a regional thing. I do believe that in certain parts a spatchcock is a guinea hen (regardless of age).

Anyway...back to the chicken...Is that 5-6 ponds a live weight or dead prepared weight? I would accept a live weight...But a dead, gutted, plucked ready for shop weight - no way!...Not free range, no way.

:):)
 
Geez, the only thing I can think of that I have trouble with is fried eggs - either the yolk or the white breaks when I flip them. I asked DH and he couldn't think of anything, either :cool:

For those having trouble with rice, here's my absolutely fool-proof method: How do you cook rice?
 
Spatchcock IS a baby chicken. The cutting method or style has nothing to do with it.
From Wiki - A spatchcock is a baby chicken
Spatchcock - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I guess you did not read your own link that you referenced. Let me point out the relevant part...

A spatchcock is a baby chicken (or game bird) that is prepared for roasting and broiling over a grill/spit, or a bird that has been cooked after being prepared in this way.
 
Spatchcock IS a baby chicken. The cutting method or style has nothing to do with it...However, it is common for the spine to be removed from spatchcock...but removal of the spine does not make it a spatchcock.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spatchcock

From another site - young chicken, no more than 6 weeks old.
Where Did The Word Spatchcock Come From?


:):)

Yeah, but .....

Kiss, if you read down the whole site in the second link you posted (above), you'll see that most of the definitions do not refer to a baby chicken, but rather to butterflying the bird.

The reference to Nigella Bites is interesting, where it states, "It has been said that the English will adamantly tell you that the only definition of "spatchcock" is a young chicken, no more than 6 weeks old." (Nooooo, really?? :LOL:)

Lee
 
Believe it or not, the one thing that I just CANNOT get right is fried chicken. My mom always fried hers to perfection in her deep dish pan. I got that same pan and either burned it or it was still raw in the middle. I did everything she told me, but NEVER got it right.
 
Unless I make it in a slow cooker... I can not make a pot roast. It comes out bone dry and the potatoes never cook.
 
Cool thread-

For those having trouble with tortillas, are you using manteca?

For those with rice trouble, man I wish I could help. Basmati is almost the only rice I eat anymore and I have to admit, no matter what method I use to cook it has always turned out great.

Smoke King- If you ever decide to give cheesecake another whirl I have a recipe that always been fool-proof for me- It was even good the time I forgot to add the eggs!

Alix- With the cream puffs is it just the pate a choux that your have trouble with?


Here's my list-

Southern style fried chicken: I can do it tempura, with regular and panko bread crumbs, but just cant get that southern-style right,

Most breads, biscuits, pizza crusts- I can't get them to rise, or they have no flavor, too dense, etc. I have gotten it right a couple of times, but for the life of me I dunno what I did different to make it right! I still have old reliable though- Jiffy corn bread mix!

Braised Short Ribs: Almost all of my braises come out great, and while the texture is fine when I make this, the flavor is just muddy; none of my aromatics or spices stand out, they just sort of combine into "bleh".
 
Believe it or not, the one thing that I just CANNOT get right is fried chicken. My mom always fried hers to perfection in her deep dish pan. I got that same pan and either burned it or it was still raw in the middle. I did everything she told me, but NEVER got it right.

:)I never could either and same went for chicken fried steak. I got to watch some girls from Oklahoma make chicken fried steak they used electric skillets. I went and bought a big one and have had no trouble frying chicken, chicken fried steak etc. I believe my problem was I couldn't get the oil at the right temp on the stove the electric fryer will do it for you it for you. All the years I worked in restaurants you had the deep fryer for these things. I have no interest in using a themometer to check oil temp on stove way to much trouble.
 
For me it's meatloaf (hit or miss), pizza dough and most baked desserts..
 
:)I never could either and same went for chicken fried steak. I got to watch some girls from Oklahoma make chicken fried steak they used electric skillets. I went and bought a big one and have had no trouble frying chicken, chicken fried steak etc. I believe my problem was I couldn't get the oil at the right temp on the stove the electric fryer will do it for you it for you. All the years I worked in restaurants you had the deep fryer for these things. I have no interest in using a themometer to check oil temp on stove way to much trouble.

i never thought about that, thanks jp!
 
I use my electric skillet for frying chicken also. It comes out great! Next time though I am going to use a buttermilk fried chicken recipe I found where the chicken is soaked in buttermilk first. Can't wait!!!!! It just has to get cooler first!!
 
biscuits were a challenge for me until I tried bisquick and enought sour cream to make a dough. kneed for a minute or two , cut , and bake at 350 until golden. they come out light and fluffy and high every time. i have tried every recipe i could find and these are perfect.
my pork chops are always dry
and i can't make a fine crumbed cake.
 
Chicken fried steak, fried chicken, and meatloaf. For the most part, I think it's because I just haven't found the right recipes yet. I've made fried chicken in a cast iron skillet, a deep fryer, an electric skillet and a regular All-Clad frying pan. I've tried 10 to 15 different recipes, and I've fried the chicken in everything from peanut oil to lard, to shortening and bacon drippings and it just doesn't taste right. Yet. I'll find the right recipes for these 3 eventually.
 
The cream puff thing...

No one can understand it. I've had supervision from my mom (who makes the worlds most spectacular cream puffs) and followed her instructions to the T and still...hockey pucks. Even tried them in HER oven...no go. I can make pastry all day everyday, but those blasted cream puffs defeat me.

Kitchenelf, I suspect if we lived closer together all around us would weigh a LOT more. We'd be splitting the work and making 7 course meals every night with wine matched to each course. You take the appys and half the entrees and I'll do the other half of the entrees and desserts and away we go!

As for the rest of you with the pie crust issues, (Dina, specially you since you use my recipe) When the dough starts to crack as you roll it out, just gently stick the crack back together overlapping the edges a bit and keep rolling. Roll out the bottom crust larger than you need for your pie plate and after you pinch the top and bottom together cut off all the excess dough. My edges always look crappy til I trim it all nice. I use slightly over half the dough for the bottom crust and the rest for the top. I always end up having quite a bit of "leftover" after the trimming. Maybe that is the secret? Not thinking you need to use all the dough for the pie?
 
The cream puff thing...

No one can understand it. I've had supervision from my mom (who makes the worlds most spectacular cream puffs) and followed her instructions to the T and still...hockey pucks. Even tried them in HER oven...no go. I can make pastry all day everyday, but those blasted cream puffs defeat me.

Kitchenelf, I suspect if we lived closer together all around us would weigh a LOT more. We'd be splitting the work and making 7 course meals every night with wine matched to each course. You take the appys and half the entrees and I'll do the other half of the entrees and desserts and away we go!

As for the rest of you with the pie crust issues, (Dina, specially you since you use my recipe) When the dough starts to crack as you roll it out, just gently stick the crack back together overlapping the edges a bit and keep rolling. Roll out the bottom crust larger than you need for your pie plate and after you pinch the top and bottom together cut off all the excess dough. My edges always look crappy til I trim it all nice. I use slightly over half the dough for the bottom crust and the rest for the top. I always end up having quite a bit of "leftover" after the trimming. Maybe that is the secret? Not thinking you need to use all the dough for the pie?


The dough scraps are great rolled out, cut in any shape you desire and brushed with butter, sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. Bake for about ten minutes. Yum!:chef:
 
chiffon cake-pound cake-mashed potatoes babe

goodness, chiffon scares me! too delicate. i'm fine with pound cake, i usedto bake that when i was 10 or so. now i can't bake.:LOL:

fer great mashed taters, babe, if you own a kitchenaid, thow your cooked, cubed taters in there with milk & lotsa butter. garlic, too, if you like garlic.
 
I have trouble making anything without making me a drink first!!!

Ok not trouble but it's more fun!
 

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